Ivy Season Gets Underway For Women's Hoops On Saturday At Yale

The Ivy season gets underway for the Brown women's basketball team on Saturday at Yale's John Lee Amphitheater. Brown is coming off a 60-50 win at American last Thursday, entering Ivy play with a 7-5 record, putting the team in a three-way tie for the best record in the league. The Bears began the season with a record breaking 6-1 start but went on to experience some road woes, losing four straight away from the Pizzitola Center. During that time junior Colleen Kelly, the team's second-leading scorer (13.6 ppg), went down with an injury. In Kelly's absence, junior Sarah Hayes has stepped up, averaging 18.0 points over the last four games, including a 22-point career-high performance against American. Hayes leads the Ivy League with 2.9 steals per contest, including five in Brown's last game. Tomorrow's game wraps up a six game road swing for the Bears.

Senior center Holly Robertson continues to lead the Bears with 15.8 ppg, second in the Ivy League. Her 9.4 rebounds per game lead the league. In the Bears 65-51 loss to Sacred Heart on 1/3, Robertson poured in a game-high 19 points and ten rebounds. She also added 21 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks and five assists in the win over the Eagles.
As a team, Brown leads the league in rebounding with 40.5 per game. Yale is right behind the Bears with 39.2 a game. The team is also averaging a league-high 11.2 steals per outing.

Last season the Bears swept Yale, edging out the Bulldogs 75-72 in a tight battle at Lee Amphitheater followed by an easy 75-58 win at the Pizzitola Center. Brown has not lost to Yale since the 2001-02 season, making it five straight wins for the Bears. Yale is currently 3-10 on the season after an 8-19 finish in 2003-04. The Bulldogs went 5-9 in league play last season while Brown went the exact opposite, 9-5, with a 16-11 overall mark. Sophomore Erica Davis leads the Bulldogs this year with 13.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg. Most recently, the Bulldogs eded out Delaware State 46-45 on Wednesday night, giving Yale three straight wins at home.